From Green Right Now Reports The Surfrider Foundation, which supports beach and ocean conservation projects, is concerned by the budget proposed by the Obama Administration this week. The proposed FY 2013 EPA budget would axe $9.9 million from the federal Beach Grant...

In a symbolic but moving gesture, the Hands Across the Sands oil drilling protest on Saturday brought out people from Miami to Melbourne to stand in solidarity for clean beaches, and against more offshore oil drilling.

There were events around the world, but the turnout was especially heavy in the U.S., spanning the nation from High Line Park in New York City and Nags Head in North Carolina in the East, to Puget Sound and Los Angeles and several beaches in between on the West Coast. People lined up in Anchorage and Maui.

The message of Hands Across the Sands, its founder likes to say, is simple: Say ‘No’ to oil drilling and ‘Yes’ to clean energy.
To make that point crystal clear, thousands of Americans are expected to line up on beaches tomorrow (June 26) at 11 a.m. to join hands and show their solidarity on that point. The gatherings will last 15 minutes. Organizers will take a photo of the group, and then members will disband, leaving only their footprints behind.

Government experts reported today that those tarballs found on beaches in the Florida Keys earlier this week are NOT from the BP Oil Spill. Coast Guard experts tested samples of the 20-odd tar balls found at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park in Key West and “determined that none of the collected samples are from the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill,” according to a news release from the oil spill response team.

Before dunking yourself in the ocean for a last summer hurrah, you may want to check out the NRDC’s latest report on the state of the nation’s beaches. It found that the number of closings and advisory days along U.S. freshwater and ocean coasts was at the second highest level in 18 years of tracking, mainly due to increased pollution along the Mid-Atlantic region and Great Lakes waters.